teacher tech

Self Service is your one stop shop for software and utilities on your Mac. This application, sometimes referred to as the Eanes AppStore, is similar to the one on your iPad. With macOS, Self Service has additional capabilities and features to make your computing experience a happy one. To get started, simply follow the steps below. Click on the LaunchPad icon in your Dock (lower left hand corner of the screen). Self Service…

This how-to article will walk you through uninstalling silverlight player for the Mac. Silverlight is a Microsoft video technology for streaming media. It can be a required install when using services in Edu settings like Hudl. If Silverlight doesn’t work often simply installing the latest version will help. However, there may be times when it is best to remove the previous versions and then install the latest patch. The Terminal commands below will remove Silverlight….

3 Flavors of Minecraft for #EdTech Venturing into the world of using Minecraft in your classroom can be a little murky if you are new to the game. Using Minecraft can help you leverage game based learning to increase cooperation, problem solving, critical thinking, and much, much more. There are 3 basic versions or “flavors” of the game that most people use in teaching; Minecraft, Minecraft PE, and Minecraft Edu. Knowing some basics about these…

K-12 Schools Need to Start Thinking About Creating Brand Name Recognition for the Future Recent summaries predicting changes in education have emphasised the need for schools, mostly higher ed, to market and develop brand name recognition to keep recruiting students. In light of how Texas seems to be going, this seems prudent for K-12 as well if they are to maintain current student ADA funding. This article is two years old, but I think…

Preconceived Stereotypes in Professional Development Training With all the discussion in the media lately about prejudice, racism and bias, I thought it might be good to reflect on my own biases and preconceived notions when training others. The longer I work with groups of people the easier it is to develop preconceived notions. For technology training it’s not so much about race or gender as it is age. I’ve always assumed that if you…

Why iMovie? At the 2014 TCEA conference in Texas, I presented a session called “Lights, Camera, Action! with iMovie” for the iPad Academy. I consider iMovie to be the “gateway drug” for instructional technology. I really like Apple’s iMovie to begin teachers’ journies into #EdTech for a variety of reasons. So Why iMovie? With so many video editing apps and programs available, what’s so important about iMovie? Simply stated, iMovie meets my 3 criteria…

WhiteBoard HD – Free App Today 6/21/2015 Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there! Today’s post takes a quick look at a free app for iOS, WhiteBoard HD. It sells for $1.99 normally, so it’s not very expensive. What makes this app cool is it’s simplicity. It doesn’t try to be all things to all people. It has some straight forward marker or animation tools, a few templates, and allows you to add…

Fun, Quick #EdTech Activity to Get Students to Think Critically Here is a fun, quick activity to get students to think critically. Although this is an ELA example, it can be done with any sufficient selection of text. Paste an entire chapter of text into Wordle. For this activity, I chose Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby. Then generate the Wordle or have your students each generate a Wordle depending on your access to technology. The students…

Took Time off to be a Dad! I took a little time off from blogging recently to enjoy my youngest daughter’s senior year in high school. (Go #Classof2015 ) It’s really nice sometimes to stop and smell the roses. I have two children who for the grace of God take more after their mother than they do their father. If you have never experienced your child’s senior year, it is a very busy time filled…